Another Brick in the Wall
"Another Brick in the Wall" is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera, The Wall, subtitled Part 1 (working title "Reminiscing"), Part 2 (working title "Education"), and Part 3 (working title "Drugs"). All parts were written by Pink Floyd's bassist, Roger Waters. Part 2 is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular. It was also released as a single and provided the band's only number-one hit in the United Kingdom, the United States, West Germany and many other countries. In addition, in the US, along with the tracks, "Run Like Hell", and "Don't Leave Me Now", "Another Brick in the Wall" reached number fifty-seven on the disco chart. In the UK, Part 2 was Pink Floyd's first single since 1968's "Point Me at the Sky"; the song was also the final number-one single of the 1970s. For Part 2, Pink Floyd received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group and lost to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind". In addition, Part 2 was number 375 on Rolling Stone s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".Rolling Stone: The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time The single sold over 4 million copies worldwide. That single, as well as the album The Wall, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after the song was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequities in education under the apartheid regime. (UPI) "South Africa Bans Floyd's 'The Wall'" The New York Times 15 July 1980: C6 Concept Each of the three parts has a similar tune, and lyrical structure (though not lyrics, aside from the "all in all" refrain), and each is louder and more enraged than the one before, rising from the sadness of Part I to the protesting Part II to the furious Part III. "Part 1" ;Composition Part 1 of the song is very quiet dynamically and features a long, subdued guitar solo. The vocals are softer and gentler in tone than in Parts 2 and 3, although there is a short, sharp rise in dynamics and tone for a brief period towards the end of the lyrical portion. Sniffing, shouting, wailing, calling, and children can be faintly heard in the background. The song's beginning coincides with the final chord of "The Thin Ice", and the echoing multi-guitar solo (after the lyrics) crossfades into the helicopter and yelling-teacher sounds of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives". ;Plot "The Thin Ice" discussed during the previous song breaks when Pink becomes older and learns of the death of his father. Pink is devastated by this reality and begins to build The Wall. ;Film version Pink's mother is seen praying in a church after the death of her husband overseas. Pink, however, is, at this point, oblivious of his death, and can be seen playing with a toy aeroplane. The song continues with Pink playing in a public park after his mother leaves him to go shopping. He sees a man who he takes a liking to in the absence of his own father. The man gives Pink a lift onto a ride, and it's clear Pink feels as if this man is his real father. Pink follows the man's son around, copying him, but doesn't understand why the other boy's father isn't paying attention to him. He grabs the man's hand but is shooed away, only to grab the man's hand again. The man pushes Pink away again, and dejectedly he sits on a swing (which is too far off the ground for him to swing himself). He looks over at the other parents swinging their kids, feeling even more alone. "Part 2" | Length = 3:11 (single version) 3:59 (album version) 3:54 (A Collection of Great Dance Songs version) | Label = Harvest (UK) Columbia (US) | Writer = Roger Waters | Producer = Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters | Last single = "Have a Cigar" (1975) | Next single = "Run Like Hell" (1980) | This single = "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" (1979) | Misc = }} ;Composition In the album version of The Wall, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" segues from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", with Roger Waters' scream sampled from the single version of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene". The song has strong drums, a well-known bass line and distinctive guitar parts in the background with a smooth, yet edgy guitar solo. The song also features a choir of schoolchildren singing in the second verse: as the song ends, the sounds of a school yard are heard, along with a Scottish teacher who continues to lord it over the children's lives by shouting "Wrong! Do it again!", and "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!", and "You! Yes! You behind the bikesheds! Stand still, laddie!", all of it dissolving into the dull drone of a phone ringing. It trails off into the next song, ending with a deep sigh. ;School choir Producer Bob Ezrin had immediately recognised the hit potential of this song, but it took some manoeuvring behind the band's back until "Part II" took its eventual form. It was Ezrin's idea to use a school choir for this song, as he explained to Guitar World in 2009: Griffiths approached music teacher Alun Renshaw of Islington Green School, around the corner from Pink Floyd's Britannia Row Studios, about the choir.BBC News: Just another brick in the wall?, 2 Oct 2007 Though the school received a lump sum payment of £1000, there was no contractual arrangement for royalties from record sales. Under a 1996 UK copyright law, they became eligible for royalties from broadcasts, and after royalties agent Peter Rowan traced choir members through the website Friends Reunited and other means, they lodged a claim for royalties with the Performing Artists' Media Rights Association in 2004. ;Disco beat The idea for the disco beat came likewise from Ezrin. As David Gilmour explained in 2009: Of the final outcome, Roger Waters has commented: David Gilmour said: ;Plot After being insulted by the teacher, Pink dreams that the kids in his school begin to protest against their abusive teachers. The song talks about how he had a personal wall around him from the rest of the world, the teachers were just another brick in the wall. ;Film version Following "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" Pink starts to daydream during his class. He imagines several students marching in unison to the beat of the song, following a path until they enter a steamy tunnel section to re-emerge as putty-faced clones void of individual distinction and proceed to fall blindly into an oversized meat-grinder. Starting with Gilmour's guitar solo, the children destroy the school building using hammers (foreshadowing the subsequent neo-fascist Nazi-like animated sequence with its marching hammers) and crowbars, creating a bonfire, dragging their teacher out of the burning school kicking and screaming while chanting "We don't need no education." The song ends with Pink rubbing his hand, which the teacher slapped with a ruler in the song previously. During the song, the teacher's "meat and pudding" lines are folded into the first few lines of the school choir's lines (with the instrumental breaks between shortened by a bar in 2 places), and are performed by the teacher in the film, played by Alex McAvoy. ;Music video Prior to the film, the first video for the track, directed by album/concert/film art designer Gerald Scarfe, depicted students running in a playground (Kings Square Gardens, Islington) and the teacher puppet from The Wall concerts was used. The video also mixed in some animated scenes later used in "The Trial" and "Waiting for the Worms". The opening shot, a pan across the London skyline was filmed from the top of Turnpike House in Islington, both St Lukes Church and St Clements Church (the one overlooking the playground) are both clearly visible in the shot. After the media furore surrounding the song, the Islington Green school head teacher Margaret Maden refused permission for the children who sang on the song to appear in the video or on Top of the Pops, although at the time they were told it was because they didn't hold Equity Cards.'The Brick In The Wall Kids', BBC One, 3 October 2007 Once the film was completed, the actual scenes of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" were combined into a new video, which now represents the music video for "Another Brick in the Wall". ;Live Versions When performed as part of the various live shows of The Wall, the teacher is represented by a giant inflatable puppet, based on the figure from Scarfe's animations. This puppet duly becomes the focus of the song's anger and frustration. ;Alternative versions * The single version has a short 4-bar rhythm guitar and drum intro before the first verse, but fades out earlier, just before the playground ending of the studio version. * The compilation A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981) includes a hybrid (3:54) version, which like the single version omits the segue from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and includes the 4-bar guitar/drum intro, but retains the longer playground ending of the studio version, fading out just before the telephone sounds. * The versions from live albums and videos Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse (recorded after Waters' departure from the band) feature the main guitar solo by David Gilmour, followed by an additional tapping guitar riff by touring guitarist Tim Renwick. These are backed by Guy Pratt's slap bass lines. On Delicate Sound of Thunder, the children's choir part is played from a tape, while on Pulse, it is performed by the backing singers. The version on Delicate Sound of Thunder starts right after Money with the single four-bar intro, then stops, until the vocals start after a short break. The ending is also similar to the one on The Wall but without the shouting and other sound effects. In contrast, the version on Pulse is more of a reworked version with excerpt from all three parts: It starts with the telephone from the end of Part 2, then a helicopter can be heard, before David Gilmour starts playing the main guitar riff of Part 1 and the band join in for a couple of bars. Then the end part of Happiest Days comes up and the transition into the actual song is the same as on the studio album. After the second guitar solo, the keyboard staccato from Part 3 can be heard while the helicopter comes back shortly before the track ends with a cold stop. On the Pulse DVD, the vocal echo from the song Dogs can be heard during that final part, but it is not audible on the CD. * The version from Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81 (from the 1980–81 concerts at Earls Court, London) also features an extended solo by Snowy White and an organ solo by Richard Wright. * In 1990, prior to The Wall – Live in Berlin a rare, limited edition promo CD titled "The Wall Berlin '90" was issued to radio stations (Columbia CSK 2126) which included "When the Tigers Broke Free" and a new version of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" credited as a "New Recording by The Bleeding Heart Band / June 1990". * The version from The Wall Live in Berlin has Cyndi Lauper singing lead vocals, and features Rick DiFonzo playing the original solo, Snowy White playing a second guitar solo, Peter Wood playing an organ solo, and Thomas Dolby playing a synthesiser solo. * The song was included with "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" in the compilation Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, and segues into the first note of an edited version of "Echoes". * Roger Waters' 2000 US tour, In the Flesh – Live (released on CD and DVD in 2006), featured the song—segued in from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"—with live backup singers and the taped children's choir singing with Waters in the second verse, and—after two guitar solos—a third verse (same lyrics as second verse). * During The Wall Live tour 2011, Waters added an acoustic coda to "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" with brand new lyrics referring to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. According To the 2012 Tour program this song is called The Ballad Of Jean Charles de Menezes. :All in all it's just another brick in the wall :All in all you're just another brick in the wall :Just another blunder :Just another lousy call :Just another clap of thunder :And apologies ring hollow :From the guilty in Whitehall :And there's no hint of sorrow :Just the whitewash on the wall :Just one man dead :And nothing is gained :Nothing at all :And Jean Charles de Menezes remains :Just another brick in the wall Charts and certifications Weekly charts Year-end charts Sales and certifications |salesamount=841,000}} |autocat=yes}} }} |- !scope="row"| Total available sales: | | 3,711,000 |- "Part 3" | Length = 1:48 | Writer = Roger Waters | Label = Harvest (UK) Columbia (US) | Producer = Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie, Roger Waters | Tracks = }} ;Composition This song is louder than the previous two parts, expressing Pink's rage. It is also the shortest part of "Another Brick in the Wall", and cross-fades into "Goodbye Cruel World". On the live version the song gets an extended ending seguing into the instrumental "The Last Few Bricks" which continues its keyboard staccato. ;Plot Pink decides to finish this wall as a result of his rage after his wife's betrayal. He states that he has seen "the writing on the wall". He concludes that he no longer needs anything at all, dismissing the people in his life as just "bricks in the wall". The song also contains the line "I don't need no drugs to calm me", possibly foreshadowing what is going to happen in the song "Comfortably Numb", although Waters has stated that "Comfortably Numb" is not about drugs. MOJO|url=http://www.mojo4music.com/2420/mojo-issue-193-december-2009|accessdate=13 February 2017|publisher=MOJO|date=17 December 2009}} ;Film version In the film, the song is accompanied by a montage of events that contributed to the construction of the wall. This version was also completely re-recorded with a faster tempo. Award The song, part number unspecified, won Waters the 1983 British Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' from the movie of The Wall. Personnel Part I * Roger Waters — lead vocals, bass * David Gilmour — guitar, harmony vocals * Richard Wright — Prophet-5 synthesiser, minimoog Part II * Roger Waters — bass, vocals (1st verse, unison with Gilmour) * David Gilmour — guitar, vocals (1st verse, unison with Waters) * Nick Mason — drums * Richard Wright — Hammond organ, Prophet-5 synthesiser with: * Islington Green School students (organised by Alun Renshaw) — vocals (2nd verse) Part III * Roger Waters — bass, vocals, rhythm guitar * David Gilmour — lead guitar * Nick Mason — drums * Richard Wright — Prophet-5 synthesiser Cover versions * In the wake of The Wall s release, a teacher in Chicago cut his own record as a rebuttal to Pink Floyd, changing the lyrics to "We all need an education." * In 1999, Tournesol turned Parts I and II into an acoustic thump. * Korn covered the track, as a single, which was included in the anthology albums Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 * Charta 77 also released a cover. See also * [[List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1980|List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1980]] * Proper Education * The Logical Song - a Supertramp song also criticizing the education system References Further reading * Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb – A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006 External links * Article on Live2times * Newspaper article on Islington Green School's contribution * BBC story on royalties suit * BBC – [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7021797.stm ONE Life] – Islington Green singers reunion. Aired 3 October 2007. * . December 2010. * Category:Pink Floyd songs Category:Eric Burdon songs Category:Songs written by Roger Waters Category:Songs about school Category:Songs written for films Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Category:Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Category:Song recordings produced by Roger Waters Category:1979 songs Category:1979 singles Category:Columbia Records singles Category:Harvest Records singles Category:Epic Records singles